Bonds' Indictment a Long Time Coming

Ultimately, it may not be his use of steroids that does Barry Bonds in.

At this point, lying about his knowledge of what he injected or ingested into his body may be enough to put Bonds behind bars. At a minimum, you have to figure the indictment that came down Thursday will be enough to keep Bonds out of baseball.

After years of being the one in pursuit -- of Mark McGwire's single-season home run record, of Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, and of the World Series ring he never won -- Bonds' past seems to have finally caught up with him.

To those that say Bonds is being singled out, there probably is some truth to the notion. Bonds is the most selfish, arrogant, and surly player to wear a baseball uniform since Ty Cobb. But don't forget that Bonds lied under oath to a federal grand jury, and that's a crime.

Like any celebrity with more money than brains, Bonds will probably hire a team of lawyers shrewd enough to get him off with little to no jail time.

But for every (non-juicing) pitcher who surrendered a home run -- or six -- to Bonds, for every teammate who was forced to tiptoe around the issues and the Issue himself, to all the fans who felt all along as if this was an act they were tired of seeing, the indictment has to feel like a victory.

Will Ricky Trade the Bong for the Ball?

Ricky Williams is coming back.

At least, that's the plan. Lest we forget, Williams announced his return to the NFL this spring, only to fail yet another drug test -- his fifth violation.

After serving his time, though, Williams has jumped through the necessary hoops and the league has announced his reinstatement.

As I said then and will repeat here, Williams' days as a top-tier NFL running back are behind him. He's over 30 years old, out of football shape, and seemingly out of touch with reality.

But despite all he's got going against him, Williams is returning to just the right franchise at just the right time. At 0-9, the Dolphins are among the worst teams in the NFL, and with leading rusher Ronnie Brown on the sidelines, Miami can't welcome Williams back fast enough.

Aside from the questions of whether he can hit a hole or break a tackle, my biggest curiosity is whether Williams can stay away from the dope. Getting caught once could happen to just about anybody, but failing five separate drug tests means you really like the stuff.

Personally, I'm rooting for the guy. After years of erratic behavior, perhaps he's decided that football is more fulfilling than drugs. But after a game or two with the Dolphins, he may change his mind.

For more on Ricky Williams...
Ricky Williams Reinstated (AP, via Yahoo! Sports)
Zenmeister Returns to NFL (All on the Field)

Battling it out for the Worst of the NFL

While the Patriots continue to distance themselves from the pack, and pundits and fans are left to argue over who's second best, a far more intriguing discussion has largely been left untouched.

Who is the NFL's worst team?

Plenty of teams could make their case here, but we'll limit our discussion to the following: Miami (0-9), New York (1-8), San Francisco (2-7), and St. Louis (1-8). And yes, I know that your favorite team isn't doing well either this year and should probably be included -- Oakland, cough cough, Atlanta, cough, cough -- but we don't have time to sit here and sift through the whole league.

We'll judge based on four categories: offense, defense, strength of schedule, and worst loss.

May the worst team lose!

Offense

Since somehow managing victories in the first two games, the 49ers have averaged a paltry 9.57 points per game. Injuries to Alex Smith and tight end Vernon Davis haven't helped anything, but bad is bad. San Francisco is also last in the league in yards per game by nearly 50. Everyone else on our list for discussion has performed at various levels of ineptitude, but they all shine in comparison to the 49ers.

Loser: San Francisco

Defense

If you're a struggling offense in the NFL, there are few other teams besides the Dolphins that you'd rather face. Miami is near the middle of the pack in defensive yards per game, but the Dolphins still manage to surrender an average of 28.6 points per game. The Rams and Jets are close in this category, coughing up 27.6 and 25.3, respectively. Perhaps a more telling statistic is the turnovers caused by these teams, or the lack thereof. The Dolphins have forced just 13 turnovers, the 49ers 12, but the Jets have them all beat here: New York has managed only 9 turnovers, or one per game. That's a far cry from the league-leader Detroit, who has 29 on the season.

Loser: New York. In addition to the high points per game and the low turnover numbers, the Jets' defense has forced a league-low 9 sacks.

Strength of Schedule (Weakest)
The Dolphins and Jets have it worst, easily. Both teams have already played conference foe New England and the New York Giants, and they both get to travel to Foxborough later this season. So pathetic though they may be, a tough schedule gives these teams somewhat of an excuse. Not so with the the 49ers and Rams. Playing in the NFC Worst truly leaves these guys without an excuse, and it certainly bolsters their respective cases for worst of the worst. San Francisco and St. Louis have faced nearly identical schedules up to this point, with the primary exception being the 49ers playing the Steelers and the Rams falling to the Cowboys.

Losers: We'll call this one a draw between San Francisco and St. Louis.

Worst Loss
For a team with only one win, the Jets have typically kept things interesting; excluding a Week 1 38-14 drubbing by the Patriots, New York hasn't lost by more than 11 points. The 49ers won their first two games, but that was just fools' gold. Reality bit hard when the Steelers crumpled San Francisco 37-16 in Week 3. NFC West division leader Seattle (5-4) is not a very good team, but the Seahawks managed to manhandle the Rams 33-6 three weeks ago. As the only team in the league without a victory, every loss is the worst loss for the Dolphins. But if you had to choose just one, losing to the otherwise-winless Jets is pretty bad.

Loser: Miami

Well, after reviewing the variables, the ruling on the field is that all of these teams are terrible, maybe even worse than you think. But despite a better record than some of the others, the 49ers are the league's fastest-sinking ship, and in my opinion, the worst of the worst.

One footnote to all this, however: the Dolphins' upcoming schedule only gets more difficult. In addition to traveling to New England, as I mentioned above, Miami has games at Philadelphia and at Pittsburgh remaining on its schedule. In a season in which the Patriots could go undefeated, how ironic would it be if Miami went winless? No wonder Don Shula has been so irritable!

Cast your vote! If you disagree with my assessment here, cast your vote in our poll to the right.

It's All Coming Together in Bean Town

Has there ever been a better time to be a Boston sports fan?

The Red Sox suffered for years at the lovable losers, but they've won two of the last four World Series and appear to be reloaded for more success in the coming years.

The Patriots have won three Super Bowls since 2002, including the precursor to the Curse breaker in 2004. And as we all know, things are clipping along this season. At 9-0 and with the toughest portion of their schedule behind them, New England seems poised for another championship, if not an undefeated season.

Until the formation of the Big Three this year, the Celtics have been the black sheep among the "big three" sports franchises. I was among the skeptics when Danny Ainge traded away the franchise present and future for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, but the proof has been in the pudding thus far.

In five games, the Celtics are undefeated with a 16.6 point average margin of victory. The Big Three has been big indeed, with Paul Pierce averaging 23.6 and Garnett and Allen adding 22.6 apiece. Garnett has also averaged six assists and nearly 16 boards per game.

It's still very early to crown the Celtics NBA champions, and for that matter, the Patriots winning the Super Bowl is not a foregone conclusion. But the possibility remains for Boston teams to achieve a triple crown in sports championships, something that hasn't been accomplished in recent history, if ever.

It is, indeed, a good time to be a Boston sports fan.

But let me remind the card-carrying members of Red Sox Nation that things won't always be this way. Big Papi and Manny Ramirez are getting older, and based on the names that have surfaced already, I wouldn't be shocked if at least one of their names will show up on the Mitchell Report.

And don't forget, Patriots fans, that Randy Moss is a free agent after this season. Other teams reload in the off-season, and yours is just an injury or two away from being like any other team; just ask the Colts.

Celtics fans, the futility of the last two decades is all too fresh your minds, so you need no reminder of what it feels like to lose. The Big Three have all passed the big Three-Oh, and when they are gone, the franchise will return to dormancy.

Yes, it is a good time to be a Boston sports fan, and you shouldn't be resented for it if you are (unless you're a bandwagon jumper).

But sports, like everything else, is cyclical. What goes around comes around. Yesterday's losers are today's winners are tomorrow's losers. Insert additional cliche here.

So enjoy it while it lasts, Boston sports fans -- and try not to be too obnoxious -- because your franchises will return to futility. It's only a matter of time.

Blogging for Dollars

You probably noticed that I removed my picture from the blog and replaced it with Google ads. There are two reasons for this.

First, I think I might have lost some credibility because of my picture. I am in my 20s, but let's be honest: I look younger. So I don't want people discriminating against me for my age.

Second, even though I love blogging and would do it for free -- I have done it for free for the past seven months -- I want to see if I can turn my effort into a few dollars here and there.

So the ads, in case you're blind, are there to the right. We'll give it a go for a while and see how they pan out.

Find me a Contract!

If you're a free agent, tell you your agent to hurry up and find you a contract.

Because according to a Boston Globe report, of the 160 free agents, 11 are named in the Mitchell Report. The names being named could have a lot of ramifications, but one thing it won't result in is those free agents signing monster deals as if nothing ever happened.

Regardless of what the general managers are saying -- that a name on the list won't factor into their decision on whether to sign that player -- the reality of the matter is that the Mitchell Report has a great deal of significance to the future of the sport.

No one wants a tainted player, at least not for that price.

Looking over the list of free agents, there's one slam dunk to be on the list; Jose Guillen has already been implicated in separate reports. If Guillen is a slam dunk, we'll call Barry Bonds a layup.

That leaves plenty of room on Mitchell's "roster" for guys like Eric Gagne, Luis Gonzalez, Andruw Jones, and even -- gasp! -- A-Rod. I am by no means pointing fingers, I'm just saying that the next couple of weeks could be very interesting.

The bottom line here is that I expect new contracts to be deflated from what they have been in recent years, which seems appropriate given all of the steroid inflation since the early 2000s.

So if you're a free agent, and you think you're name could be on that list, I'd recommend getting a deal done as soon as possible.

For more on the Mitchell Report and current Free Agents...
11 Free Agents spoke in probe (ESPN.com)
Free Agents Rushing to Sign Deals before Mitchell Report comes out (The Brushback)
Anticipating Backlash from the Mitchell Report (All on the Field)
List of Free Agents (ESPN.com)

Giving Away Marion Jones' Medals: Tougher than you'd Think

Remember when Marion Jones admitted she was a cheater and relinquished the five medals she won in the 2000 Sydney Olympics?

You felt sort of glad for whoever finished second, right? Winning a gold by default seven years later takes away some of the thrill, of course, but at least justice is served.

Not so fast, says the International Olympic Committee.

As it turns out, Katerina Thanou -- the Greek woman in line to claim the gold medal in the 100m that seemed to be rightfully hers -- may have some drug issues of her own.

Thanou and fellow Greek runner Kostas Kenteris failed to show up for drug tests on the eve of the Athens Olympics, claimed they were injured in a motorcycle accident and eventually pulled out. Both later were suspended for two years.

No word on whether Thanou was doping in Sydney, but the IOC is taking a wait and see approach. From the tenor of its statements, it would seem they are leaning away from awarding it to Thanou.

So we know Jones is out of the running, and it looks like Thanou may have been a cheater, so who gets the gold medal? That would be Tanya Lawrence of Jamaica (on the left in the photo), unless it turns out that she was a cheater too.

And you thought the 2000 Presidential election fiasco couldn't be topped!

For more on Marion Jones and Katerina Thanou
No Automatic Upgrade for medalists (AP, via SI.com)
Jones Gives Back Five Medals (AP, via ESPN.com)